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Gabelli Launch Welcomes Master of Science Students to Campus

Event Recaps , Global Graduate | Aug 22, 2019 |

Over the course of two days this August, incoming Gabelli School of Business Master of Science students across ten programs were welcomed to Fordham University’s Lincoln Center campus. New students were given the opportunity to immerse themselves with their classmates while learning about service, culture, and business with purpose at this year’s Gabelli Launch.

Joining the Gabelli School Network

Ready to work, grow, and learn with their peers, students began with Launching My Journey, a program where the mantra “New York is my Campus, Fordham is my school” was brought to life. Students, both international and domestic, were asked to pick an image of New York and describe what it means to them.

Nicholas Adams, an incoming student in the Marketing Intelligence program from North Carolina, connected with Lincoln Center because “just like coming into Grad School, performing at Lincoln Center in front of strangers can be intimidating.” But, Nick and his Launching My Journey classmates “had a lot of fun and success with our tasks, and believe if we can continue to embrace our challenges and support each other as we start our programs, we can end up with similar results.”

During the Expanding My Network program, students mixed and mingled with representatives from every club on campus and signed up for those that they would be interested in joining as the new school year approached. In an exercise called Perfecting My Pivot, students received a copy of Pivot: The Only Move That Matters is Your Next One, and were asked to identify their personal values. Each student used their values as a foundation to build their path to graduate school and beyond to a future career.

Welcome to New York

Students stayed in their teams from Launching My Journey as they were tasked with completing a scavenger hunt around Fordham University’s Lincoln Center campus as well as the Lincoln Square neighborhood.

Armed with a checklist, students had to solve riddles and find the spot where each answer led them. When asked about health and wellness, students were led to the campus gym, and when they read about performances near a fountain, the answer brought students to Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts where they took a picture with the landmark as proof of completion, and so on.

Zung-Ru George Lin, a global student who grew up in Taiwan, left the exercise ready to not only conquer a new city, but also to do so with new friends by his side. “Compared to New York, a busy city, Fordham students face challenges and difficulty with optimistic and can always find the best way to balance all the trifles.”

Global students then spent an additional day immersing themselves in their new city, school and campus. They discovered services provided to all students, like the Career Development Center, and also resources specifically for international students like the Office for International Services. They learned how to best maximize their experience over their time at Fordham and met in small groups with current international students who shared their wisdom on being a Gabelli Master of Science student.

Business with Purpose

To conclude the event, the Finding My Purpose exercise brought home the meaning of Cura Personalis, or care for the entire person. Students from all around the world worked together in teams to build a total of 120 bikes for children, who, without the contribution from the Gabelli School of Business students, may never would have received such a gift.

Fernanda Chencci Peres, an incoming student in the Media Management program, said that the experience was a memorable way to give back as a group and show care to the whole person. “As we worked in teams to do good for the need of others—in this case, building bikes to be donated to underprivileged children—we also improve our own selves mentally, physically, and spiritually.”

Following Gabelli Launch, students left with a knowledge about Fordham, the Gabelli School, and the school’s values, as well as classmates who became friends. In the coming weeks, programs will host individual orientations for their students, where they will dive even deeper into what it means to be a businessman or woman with purpose and a Fordham Ram.

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